Rockabye Baby Will Come Later

September 23, 1988|By Reviewed by Joyce Slater, a writer and reviewer.

Labor Pains

By Kate Klimo

Crown Books, 312 pages, $17.95

We`ve all heard the oft-repeated theory that women forget the pain of childbirth the moment their squalling little bundles of joy are placed in their arms. It would be inaccurate to call this notion of postpartum amnesia an old wives` tale, because all old wives and mothers, old or new, know that it`s a blatant lie.

Kate Klimo certainly hasn`t forgotten a thing about the rigors of giving birth. Klimo was pregnant herself during the writing of her novel, ``Labor Pains,`` and she has captured the experience perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that readers who also are mothers may have to pause periodically during the final chapters to take some Extra-Strength Tylenol and lie down in a dark room with a cold cloth on their heads.

Klimo, author of ``Golden Triple Time,`` gives us a plot that`s timely, neatly constructed and nicely paced. She follows five New York women through their pregnancies from the moment of conception to the moment of birth.

(``Labor Pains`` is so baby-oriented that it is divided into trimesters rather than chapters.)

Except for two who were friends previously, the expectant moms meet for the first time on the 7th floor of Hudson River General Hospital in a Lamaze class. All five would feel right at home on an episode of ``thirtysomething,`` and not only because of the age description. These ladies are smart, sexy, funny and upscale all the way. Just your average cross-section of smock wearers, right?

Never mind. Klimo is skillful enough to bypass the improbability factor and make each woman as real as any you might chat with at the deli counter of a Super Kroger`s. Or do I mean the perfume department at Bloomingdale`s?

Anyway, we meet Jill, whose ``perfect`` new marriage is threatened when her promiscuous past returns to endanger her pregnancy. And Jill`s friend Kendra, a fiercely independent artist who wants no emotional or financial ties to her baby`s father. And Louise, who has had three babies in three years and is about to get even more than she bargained for. And Karleen, an editor with a major publishing company, who fears that her midlife baby may cost her her career. Finally, Mary Beth, a good Catholic wife with an unusual child dilemma: She doesn`t know whether the child belongs to her husband or her lover.

The men in question are quite well-drawn, but they often seem peripheral to the action; the women grow frighteningly self-absorbed as their pregnancies advance. We cannot fault the novelist for her vision, though, because it reflects a reality prevalent even in the enlightened `80s.

Prospective readers should be cautioned that Klimo is as sexually explicit as she is witty. In the course of the novel we learn exactly how her pregnant protagonists got that way. And I do mean exactly. Only one, Carleen, is driven by that yuppiest of urges, the ticking of her biological clock. Causative factors for the others include those old favorites, spontaneity and forgetfulness, and a newcomer, lingerie from Victoria`s Secret.

The author notes early on that ``no pregnancy is routine,`` then proves her point all too well. The women in her novel have a dizzying number of complications, including dizziness.

Readable as it is, I`d be reluctant to recommend ``Labor Pains`` to women pregnant for the first time, particularly those who tend to be squeamish and skittish in the same way that the first year of medical school turns every student into a hypochondriac. Ignorance may not be bliss, but in some situations it can be remarkably soothing.